On November 8, Carnival Cruise Line announced that new ship, Carnival Firenze, would see a shift in her inaugural sailing.
While we know (and warn other cruisers) that inaugural sailings can be risky to book due to delays with getting the ship ready in time, this change was unexpected in the other direction: Carnival Cruise Line is moving Carnival Firenze’s inaugural sailing sooner by a week!
Carnival Firenze Original Inaugural
Carnival Firenze was originally scheduled to sail her first revenue sailing from Long Beach on May 2, 2024. The original 5-day itinerary featured:
- Thursday, May 2, 2024: Long Beach, California
- Friday, May 3, 2024: Fun Day At Sea
- Saturday, May 4, 2024: Cabo San Lucas, Mexico
- Sunday, May 5, 2024: Fun Day At Sea
- Monday, May 6, 2024: Ensenada, Mexico
- Tuesday, May 7, 2024: Long Beach, California
You may recall that we excitedly booked the day sailings opened:
Additionally, we also booked the second sailing on Carnival Firenze on May 7, 2024 with the same itinerary. We joked we were sailing on Carnival Firenze’s inaugural and inaugural junior!
Carnival Firenze Deployment Update
You can imagine our surprise when on November 8, 2023, Carnival Cruise Line announced they would be moving Carnival Firenze’s inaugural sailing. But, as mentioned, not back due to delays, but rather up by an entire week to include a week-long Mexican Riviera sailing!
Carnival Firenze will now kick off from Long Beach on April 25, 2024 with the following itinerary:
- Thursday, April 25, 2024: Long Beach, California
- Friday, April 26, 2024: Fun Day At Sea
- Saturday, April 27, 2024: Fun Day At Sea
- Sunday, April 28, 2024: Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
- Monday, April 29, 2024: Mazatlán, Mexico
- Tuesday, April 30, 2024: Cabo San Lucas, Mexico
- Wednesday, May 1, 2024: Fun Day At Sea
- Thursday, May 2, 2024: Long Beach, California
Passenger Reaction
Facebook and various social media outlets LIT UP with Carnival’s announcement. Many expressed their anger that Carnival Cruise Line would make this change. One cruiser shared that after 33 cruises, this would be her first-ever inaugural and she was so excited. Due to another sailing (oh, the life of a frequent cruiser!) she is now not able to join Carnival Firenze’s new inaugural date.
As for us… We immediately ran to the computer and Rocky, in his Travel Agent duties, immediately snagged us a room on the new inaugural sailing.
Our New Inaugural Sailing
Excited (and blessed) to be able to say that we’ll be on the new inaugural sailing, second sailing, and third sailing of Carnival Firenze!
If you’d like to join us for any of those legs, reach out to Rocky directly at rocky@thiscruiselife.com and he’ll be happy to get you booked!
